Here is a cheat sheet to help you out with your 1st couple weeks on the SZ Method.
This will help you set your expectations and give you a guide on the following:
- Nutrition
- Your first few weeks
- Check ins
- Photos
- Measurements
- Exercise
- Final Message
Putting your focus towards these areas will help ensure you are successful in achieving your goals over the next 8 weeks. Give it a read and make sure to ask us if you have any questions.
If your goal does not include nutrition feel free to go straight down to the exercise section.
Nutrition
You may have heard the saying 'you can't out train a bad diet". While that may be true, it is possible to enjoy foods you like while in the process of losing weight and achieving your body weight goals. You will not have to completely give up chocolate, cakes or alcohol. You will just need to eat it in moderation.
To be able to include foods you love we will need to track your food so we know exactly how much you are eating. This will allow us to slot in those foods you love and still keep within your calories to achieve success.
For your first week: Download Myfitness Pal. The first week is solely to get you to into better habits and make you more aware of what you are eating. The main goal in the first week will be to enter in your food and to hit your calorie goal.
Going forward: Once you get the hang of using myfitness pal, the goal will be to dial in your macros. Your macros are the amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates you are consuming in your diet. Getting these right ensure you are able to hold onto or even build lean muscle, while dropping weight and body fat.
From calculating your weight, height, age and activity level we will be able have a starting point for your macros. These will adjust depending on how your body responds to what you are eating, so it is important for you to try keep your food diary updated as accurately as possible so we can make the right changes!
Checking in:
It is important to check in at a similar time each week. It is recommended to check in first thing in the morning, after you visit the toilet. While weight will fluctuate from week to week, this will be the best way to stay consistent and see changes over time.
Photos:
These are the best tools to use when measuring your progress and will allow you to see changes that may not always show on the scale.
- Front: Aim to have your feet and head in the screen of the photo.
- Side: Same as the front. Aim to have your whole body in the shot.
Try to take your photos in front of a white background if possible with good lighting. You want to be able to see your body changes as you progress!
- Behind (optional): You can also take photos with your back facing the camera. Just make sure to keep your feet and head in the shot like the photos above.
Measurements:
Measurements are important to seeing changes in the body, and along with photos will be your two best tools to see changes. While scales can give you different numbers, there are a lot of factors that affect weight meaning changes in weight may not be fat loss or fat gain. Trust the process and use your photos and measurements as your guide.
- Chest - only for males. Keep the tape around the nipple line and wrap around the back of the male. Once the tape is around the body, make sure the arms are down by the side of the body. The tape should be underneath the arms and not over it.
- Arms - hold your arms up at 90 degrees, like your are tensing your biceps. However don't tense, stay relaxed. Measure from the middle of the bicep peak and add both arms up together.
- Waist - aim to tape around the belly button or just slightly above. Make sure to watch out for the hips. If the tape does not look straight due to the person's hips, move up a little higher.
- Hips - just above the bottom and basically the belt line. Make sure to keep the tape straight. Use a mirror to assist from side on if you need to.
- Legs - Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, keep your arms straight by your side. Measure your leg from the point where your thumb meets your leg.
Exercise
Your program will be sent to you through google sheets. Please do your best to update your program. The program will be tailored to your fitness level and aim to get progressively harder as the months go on. Try keep consistent and plan your sessions in advance.
For workouts that require a score or for runs enter your score/ distance/ pace below the workout. For circuits enter in done once you complete them.
On top of your program, try keep consistent in your daily step count. The difference between 10,000 and 3,000 steps can be 300-500 calories which can be the difference in achieving a calorie deficit. Particularly on those days when you do not have a workout, try keep moving and get those steps up!
Workout Abbreviations
Emom: Every minute on the minute. Do the prescribed amount of reps at the start of every minute. What ever time is left over in that minute is rest.
Amrap: As many reps as possible. Keep going and finish as much as you can.
Final Message
Enjoy the journey and do not put to much pressure on yourself. This program is a way to learn to incorporate structure into your lifestyle that will help allow you balance between enjoying yourself and achieving your goals well beyond these 8 weeks. Trust the process and take it week by week, focusing on what you need to do each week to get great results.
If you have any further questions please reach out!
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